Self-controlling reducing-valve.



F. HENNEBD'HLE. SELF CONTROLLING REDUCING VALVE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 16, I915.

Patented June 13,1916.

I y I FRANK HENNEBiO I-ILE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SELF-CONTROLLING REDUCING-VALVE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK HuNNEBoHLE, citizen of the United States, residing at Chicage, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Controlling Reducing-Valves; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to reducing valves, its general object being to provide a simple and self-adjusting valve which will automatically reduce the pressure'of a fluid in a predetermined ratio; and which will involve no springs, adjusting screws, diaphragms or other parts likely to get out of order or to require attention.

More particularly, my invention aims to provide a reducing valve of constant proportion; that is to say, one in which the pressure of the fluid passing out of the valve will maintain a constant relation to the pressure at the valve inlet and in which the ratio of pressure reduction can easily be calculated from the proportioning of the valve parts; to afford simple and effective means for substantially balancing such a valve so as to make the same sensitive in operation and therefore fairly exact in maintaining the desired ratio of reduction; to provide a reducing valve construction which may eas ily be applied to valves inserted in either vertical or horizontal pipes; to provide simple means for draining off any condensation when the valve is used with steam; and to provide simple means for adaptingthe same principle to valves used with a variety of fluids, such as steam, gas, air or liquids.

Further objects of my invention will appear from the following specification and from the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a vertical section through a steam pressure reducing valve embodying my'invention and adapted for use with a vertical steam supply pipe. Fig. 2 is a similar section through a valve adapted for insertion in a horizontal steam pipe system. Fig. 3 is a similar section through an embodiment of my invention suitable forms with gas, compressed air or liquids.

The reducing valve of my invention may be embodied with substantially equal facility and effectiveness in types of valves suited for use with either high or low pressure Specification of Letters Patent. Patent-ed J ne 13, 1916,

Application filed August 16, 1915.

Serial No. 45,659.

fluids, regardless of Whether the latter are gaseous or liquid. In either case I preferably use a body'member 1 inclosing a main chamber 2 connecting an entrance passage 3 wlth an exit passage 4;, and having a tapermg seat 5 at the juncture of the main chamber with the entrance passage. Detachably secured to the body member at the opposite end of the main chamber from the said seat, is a cylinder 6 opening into the main chamber and closed at its outer end, this cyl lnder being in axial alinement with the seat 5 and the axis of both being preferably vertical as shown in the drawings.

Disposed within the main chamber and preferably projecting into both the cylinder 6 and the entrance passage 8 is a movable valve member, which member has at its upper end a plunger or piston 7' slidably fitting the bore of the cylinder. This plunger or upper head is connected by an intermediary elment (such as a plurality of webs of relatively small crosssection) with a lower head 8 having a face 9 ground to fit the seat 5 and adapted when seated on the latter to close the connection between the entrance and exit passages. For high pres sure service, the entrance passage is also connected with the interior of the cylinder above the plunger 7 by a passage having a bore of diminutive size with respect to the diameter of the plunger, as for example by a perforation '16 extending through a central tube 10 connecting radial webs 11 cast integral with the two heads of the substantially spool-shaped movable member. Adjacent to the juncture of the main chamber with the entrance passage I also preferably provide means for guiding the movable member so as to maintain the latter axial of the said seat and bore; thus, Fig. 1 shows the movable member as equipped at its lower end with a downwardly projecting tube 12 sliding in a guide 13 connected by a spider 14 with the casing of the body member, while Figs. 2 and 3 show the body member as having auxiliary webs 15 serving as guides for the same purpose. In either case, the size of the seat 5 is greater in diameter than the plunger 7, thereby causing the opposite ends of the movable member to be exposed to different effective pressures, the difference in which pressures results in raising the movable member sufiiciently to permit a predetermined portion of the initial pressure to'pass out of th exit passage. For example, suppose the effective area of the plunger 7 in Fig. 1 is one fourth less than that of the lower head 8, and suppose steam enters the inlet passage at 100 pounds pressure. This steam-will enter the cylinder 6 through the perforation 16 and will exert a downward pressure upon the movable valve member, but owing to the greater area of the lower head the upward pressure on the latter will raise the valve member and permit enough of the pressure to escape into the exit passage to establish a balance. If the outer surface of theplunger 7 extended down to the lower head 8,"the resulting reduction in pressure would be exactly one quarter or 25' pounds. However, this 25 pound steam also exerts pressure in opposite directions on the opposed faces of the two heads 7 and 8, and, as the latter is larger than the former, the differential pressure action will oppose the above described raising of the movable member. By making the central tube 10 and the radial webs 11 relatively small in section, the exposed or effective opposed faces of the two heads can be kept in substantially the same proportion as the opposite faces of the said heads, so that the resulting differential action will serve to reduce the pressure of the emitted steam by one fourth, making adelivered pressure of 18% pounds. In other words the delivered pressure will be 18% per cent. of the pressure of the entering steam, being 7 5 per cent. (the ratio of the effective areas of the upper and lower heads) less one one-hundredth of the square of 75. Obviously, for any other percentage ratio of the head areas the percentage of delivered pressure would likewise be the percentage of the said ratio less one one-hundredth of the square of the said'percentage. For example, with a plunger having each face of six-tenths the area of the corresponding effective face of the lower head the delivered pressure would be 60 minus 36, or 24 per cent. of the initial pressure. Thus, the obtainable reduction can be easily calculated from the proportioning of the parts and it will require no springs, screws or adjustments of any kind to maintain this reduction constant, since the movable valve member will readily assume the position in which it delivers just this reduced pressure.

Where the proportional reducing valve of my invention is to be used with liquids, or with gases of relatively low pressure, the passage connecting the cylinder with the inlet passage may be omitted and the cylinder may be connected to the outer air through a vent 17, as in'Fig. 3. In this case, I preferably invert the movable valve member and figure the reduction in pressure directly fromthe relative effective areas of the two heads. For such low pressure. work, the

plunger head may be suitably packed, as with a cup leather 18.

Instead of making the plunger area smaller than that of the ground valve seat and connecting the cylinder with the inlet pipe as in Fig. 1, the plunger may be larger than the valve seat and the cylinder may be connected to the discharge pipe, as in Fig. 2. In the latter case, if the areas are in the proportion of 2 to 4, a 100 pound steam supply pressure would tend to force steam at 25 pounds into the outlet pipe, but this 25 pound pressure would be transmitted to the interior of the cylinder, hence this counteracting pressure acting 011 the upper face of the plunger and the lower face of the valve will reduce the effective opening of the valve until the pressure is throttled by one fourth, or to 18% pounds. To prevent the initial pressure thrust from moving the valve me1nher too far when the entering fluid is first turned on, I preferably provide steps for the valve member, such as the shoulders 19 in Figs.-1 and 2 or the lug 20 in Fig. 3. However, I do not wish to be limited tothis or other details of the construction herein disclosed, it being obvious that the same may be modified in many ways without departing from the spirit ofmy invention.

I claim as my inventionr V V 1. A pressure reducing valve comprising a body equipped with entrance and exit passages cOnnected by a main chamber, said body having alined seat and bore formations associated with said chamber, and a movable member equipped with a head slidable in said bore and a larger head adapted to seat on the said seat formation, there being a passage through said member connecting the inlet passage with the said bore. I r 2. A pressure reducing val e comprising a body equipped with entrance. and exit passages connected by a main chamber, said body having alined seat and bore formations associated with said chamber, and a.

movable member equipped with a head slidable in said bore and a larger head adapted to seat on the said seat formation, the said heads being connected by a plurality of webs radiating from a stem having a'bore extending through said member for connecting the inlet passage with the aforesaid bore.

3. A pressure reducing valve comprising a body equipped with entrance and exit passages vconnected by a main chamber; said'body having a seat formation at the juncture of the entrance passage with the main chamber, and having a cylindrical bore at the opposite end of the chamber from said juncture and axially alined with the seat formation; a plunger slidable in said bore,

1 and a head spaced from but fast withrespect to theplunger and adapted to seat on said seat formation; there being a passage connecting said bore with the entrance passage.

Y 1. A pressure reducing valve comprising a body equipped With entrance and exit passages connected by a main chamber said body having alined seat and bore foundations associated with said chamber, and a spool shaped movable member comprising a pair of heads of different diameters connected-by an element of small section relatively to said heads, there being a perforation extending through said element and both of said heads for connecting the entrance passage with the said bore formation.

5. A pressure reducing valve compressing a body member having entrance and exit passages connected by a main chamber and having alined seat and bore formations associated with said chamber and disposed on opposite sides of the latter, and a movable member including in relatively rigid formation a plunger slidably fitting said bore and a head adapted to seat on the said seat formation, the said seat formation be ing of larger diameter than said plunger; said plunger and said head being connected by an element of relatively small section, thereby exposing opposed faces of said head and plunger approximating in size the end faces of the head and the plunger respec tively, there being a relatively small auxiliary passage connecting the said bore formation With the passage disposed opposite to the said bore formation.

6. A pressure reducing valve comprising a body having entrance and eXit passages connected by a main chamber and having a seat formation at the juncture of said chamber with the entrance passage, a cylinder detachably mounted on said body in axial alinement With said seat; a plunger slidably fitting said cylinder, a valve element having a face larger than said plunger and adapted to seat upon said seat and an intermediary element of relatively small section connecting the plunger with the valve element and rigid with respect to both thereof, there being a passage of relatively small diameter extending through the plunger and both said elements for connecting the entrance passage with the interior of the cylinder.

FRANK HENNEBOHLE.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner 0! Patents, Washington, D. G." 

